Hillsdale freshman Corcoran takes golf title

“My driver was really good off the tee. I had a lot of greens in regulation,” said Corcoran, who said she played a practice round at Poplar Creek Monday and was one-shot better than Tuesday.

“I expected to shoot 5- or 6-over. I expected Ashlyn to play well and beat me.”

Corcoran trailed by two strokes after nine holes, 36-38, but closed to one-stroke back with a par on No. 10, after Johnson, who was playing one group ahead in the lead group, bogeyed the hole. The pair parred the 11th and both bogeyed the 12th and 13th. Johnson appeared to stabilize with pars at 14 and 15, increasing her lead back to two after Corcoran bogeyed the 15th.

That’s when things fell apart for Johnson as her putting stroke abandoned her. She three-putted the final three holes, carding a trio of bogeys.

Corcoran, on the hand played the final three hole in par, par, bogey to claim the title with a back-nine score of 39, to Johnson’s 43.

With the win, Corcoran earns the PAL’s automatic bid the Central Coast Section tournament scheduled for Nov. 5 in Monterey. Johnson, who is committed to play at Division III power George Fox University in Oregon, will try for an at-large bid.

But longtime San Mateo head coach Jimmy Ikeda said that was a long shot. Poplar Creek doesn’t have the teeth of other courses, especially in San Jose, and that could impact Johnson’s ability to make the field.

The result left Hillsdale head coach Dave Godoy with a range of emotions.

“I’m ecstatic for the freshman, but it’s a little bit of a bummer for the senior,” Godoy said. “But I’m super pumped for Kayla. It’s kind of passing the torch. Kayla’s been playing lights out this season.”

Johnson and Corcoran came into the round as the the top-two seeds in the field of 30 golfers and they lived up to their rankings. But for Johnson, the shaky finish left her more disappointed than not winning a third PAL title.

“I was in first place on the front nine. … My front nine was great. I was feeling good,” Johnson said. “But I wasn’t really mentally focused on the back nine. … Those three, three-putts were brutal. … I think I kind of fell apart.”

Corcoran and Johnson were the only two golfers to card sub-80 rounds on the day. Carlmont senior Ellie Molholm, and Aragon juniors Kate Chong and Hannah Lin, were all within a shot of each other, but it was Lin who emerged as the third-place finisher, carding an 82.

Molholm and Chong both finished a shot back with 83s, with Molholm earning fourth place because her back-nine score of 40 was three shots better than Chong’s 43, who was fifth.

Eight of the top-10 finishers came in in the first two foursomes off the course. Sixth place went to Carlmont’s Tessa Lee, also a freshman, who carded an 84.

Three players, Mills’ Angelina and Christina Chen, along with Burlingame’s Catie Frick, all carded rounds of 85. Frick, who played in the fourth of eight groups, earned seventh place on a tiebreaker, Christina Chen was eighth and Angelina Chen ninth.

Karuna Mungali, yet another freshman from Carlmont and playing in the fifth group, rounded out the top-10 with a round of 89. The Scots, the regular-season team champion, had three players in the top-10. Aragon, which will also play in CCS as a team, Hillsdale and Mills all had two golfers finish in the top-10.

While Johnson was disappointed with her round, she was proud that the PAL title will stay with Hillsdale.

“Oh yeah. For sure,” Johnson said. “I’m happy for Kayla. She’s the future of the Knights.”